Chain sand dredge



' R. 'SMITH CHAIN SAND DREDGE Filed Ded. 12, 1921 LINVENTOR.

/ 5 5MITH. BY

A TTORNEYS.

Patented Apr. 10, 1923.

@UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEQTV nosELL SMITH, or LEBANONQINDIANA.

hpplication filed December 12, 1921. Serial No. 521,834.

To all whom it may concern:

7 Be it known. that I, Rosina, SMITH, a

' citizen ,ofit'he United States, and a resident of Lebanon, county of Boone, and State of Indiana, have invented a certain new and useful Chain Sand-Dredge; and I do hereby declare that the. following. is a full, clear,

and exact descriptionthereof, reference being had to: the accompanying drawings,

in which like numerals refer to like parts.v 1

The object of this invention is to improve the constructionand arrangement of an ap paratus;for-excavating sand, gravel or the like by means of a dredging chainsubstan,

tially as shown and describedin my Patent No. 775,686", issued November'22, 1904. f The particular feature of this inventlon resides in the construction of the chain employedand in the manner of securing the dredging buckets-thereto, whereby the, chain will be more flexible and will not bindwhen in operation and the buckets will be secured thereto in, such a manner. as not to weaken the chain of the san The full nature of I this invention will, be

understood from the accompanying draw:

sings and the following description and claims.- I c I In the drawings 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus. showing a water filled gravel pit in vertical section. Fig. 2 is a perspective, view of a portion of the chain with the buckets secured thereto; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of the chain with the bucket secured thereto.

In the drawings there is shown a gravel pit 10 in which there is a body of water 11, or 10 may rep-resent thebed of a river or stream 11. An endless chain is formed of the links 12 carrying the buckets 13 that are held by two oppositely located means so that one side of the chain will sag,- and as .it is drawn across the bottom of the gravel pit will enable the buckets to carry out the gravel from said pit. Said chain is supported and carried at the right hand endcby the sprocket ,wheel 15, mounted on a pole 16, embedded in a vertical position within the gravel pile 17. Said pole is anchored in positionby a cable 18, or by any other suitable means.

At the other side of the gravel pit there is an engine house 19 supported upon the wheels 20 riding on the tracks 21, said housor the connections bythe abrasion ing inclosi'ng an engine, 11ot shown herein, which drives a pulley 22 by means of the belt 23. The pulley 22 is mounted on a platform 24 extending-from theengine house over the pit and is keyed on the shaft 25 carried by the bearings 26. Adjacentthe pulley 22 and, keyed on said shaft is-a driv ing sprocket. 27 over which rides the chain 12. The dredge; chain is moved by this means in the direction indicated by the arrows; thereby keeping he top of said chain substantially straighthorizontally; and permitting the bottom of the'chain to sag in conformity with the bottom of the pit.

' As the pit grows deeper itfis' necessary for the means on which the twofsprocket wheels are mounted to be brought-closer together in order to permit increased sagging orthe chain may be lengthened by inserting more links. For this reason it is desirable that one end of the chain be mounted on means movable longitudinally thereof and; therefore. the engine and engine house is mounted on wheels riding on a track extending longitudinally of the chain. The same purpose may be accomplished by mounting the en-. gine house'on a flat boat riding: in the water of the pit-or stream, wherein said stream or pit has considerable width; p x

In order that the chain may befr'eadily lengthened or shortened itris': made up of links similar in form -allbeing hooked into I each otherjbut each link having one end 28 and two sides 29, so thatiit'is openat the opposite end fromtheend piece 28.1. At the two connections of the link between the portions 28 and 29 there are notches 30. The other ends of the sides 29 are pro ided with hooks arranged to engage the notches 30 in each preceding link. These notches keep the sides of the link in position so they can not move towards each other. thereby holding them properly spaced. The book portions of the links comprise a portion 31 extending rearwardly from the free ends of the side portions 29, a substantial distance parallel thereto and spaced therefrom at a slightly greater distance than the diameter of the side and end pieces. On the rear of each of the hook portions 31* there are inwardly projecting calks 32 which extends substantially at right angles to the portion 31 in position to abut the sides 29 and maintain the portion 31 in properlyspaced relation thereto. The calkj32 acts as a spacer'for' Ward end of said bucketis supported by the maintaining the portion 3]. properly spaced from the portion 29 and also provides a stop against which the notched portion 30 may abut and limit the rear movement of the preceding link. By means of this arrangement each preceding link will at all times be loosely held in the hook portion of the adjacent link sothat no binding can takeplace.

portion28, of the preceding link. Therear end of the bucket 'is'provi'ded'with a strap eted thereto and suspended from the rear .-'crossmem'ber ofthebucket link 33, 'said' strap 35 encircling that portion of said link 33 as shown in Fig. 3.

'With this arrangement the bucket is permanently secured to one of the links without being riveted to the side thereof or in any other way decreasing the strength or permitting abrasion of the rivets or other securingmeans by the sand. Since all of the links are alike, including the bucket links, they may be arranged in any desired manner, being inserted or removed by spreading apart the hook portions thereof.

The invention claimed is: I

1. In a chain sand dredge, a chain formed of links comprising two parallel side portions connected by an end cross portion, hooks provided on the free ends of said side ortions for engaging the next adjacent ink, and projections on the ends of said hooks for maintaining said hooks in position to permit the sliding movement therein towards said side portions'for maintaining the spaced relation of said rearwardly bent portions with respect to said side portions and acting as a stop for limiting the sliding movement'of the adjacent link between the side and link portions. p

3. In a chain sand dredge, a chain formed of links, one of said links having side portions connected at one end with across portion, the other ends of said side'portionsbeing provided with hooked" portions adapted to engage the cross portion of the preceding link, a bucket, meansror securing the for-I ward end of said bucket to the hook portions of said link, and means for securing the rear of said bucket to the cross portion of said link, whereby said bucket will be supported and maintained in fixed relation therewith.

4:. In a chain sand dredge, a chain formed of linksone of said links having side portions connected at one end with the cross portion, the free ends of said side portions being provided with hooked portions adapted to engagethe cross portion of the preceding link, a bucket having its forward end fixedly secured to the rearwardly extending ends of the hooked portions of said link, and a strap secured to the rear of said bucket and hooked over the cross portion of said link for supporting the rear of said bucket, whereby said bucket will be mainta'ned' in fixed" relation therewith.

In witness whereof, I fixed my signature.

have hereunto af- ROSELL SMITH. 

